


Petals and Thorns

by MidnightMew



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF), dan and phil
Genre: Fluff, M/M, One Shot, Soulmate AU, Soulmate-Identifying Marks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-04
Updated: 2017-09-04
Packaged: 2018-12-23 22:53:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,019
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11999613
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MidnightMew/pseuds/MidnightMew
Summary: They had talked for hours and hours before, over skype, but yesterday had been the first time they ever met face to face, and Dan knew that this growth of his soulmark was not a coincidence.Everyone was born with one, a seed shaped spot on their wrist, that started to grow once they met their soulmate. Its rate of growth was linked to the time the pair spent together, many old couples having flowers and leaves all over their bodies, and the type of plant was said to represent the other person.





	Petals and Thorns

**Author's Note:**

> Just something short, I came up with the plant thingy but I'm pretty sure it's been done before

It had grown. Dan looked down at his wrist, to the tiny little stem poking out from the seed that had remained, unchanged, on his skin for so many years. Some of his friends’ ones had already grown flowers, others still as lifeless as his been until a day ago. It could’ve been anyone he spoke to yesterday, the woman in the ticket office, the boy at the coffee shop, but somehow, he knew it was Phil. How could it be anyone else?

They had talked for hours and hours before, over skype, but yesterday had been the first time they ever met face to face, and Dan knew that this growth of his soulmark was not a coincidence. 

Everyone was born with one, a seed shaped spot on their wrist, that started to grow once they met their soulmate. Its rate of growth was linked to the time the pair spent together, many old couples having flowers and leaves all over their bodies, and the type of plant was said to represent the other person.

Dan reached for his phone, sending a picture of his newly sprouted plant to Phil. He needed to know if his hunch was correct, he desperately wanted it to be, he didn’t want to be jumping to conclusions so soon, but  _ what if,  _ his mind kept saying,  _ what if.  _

He didn’t receive a response from Phil that evening, and lay in bed that night, unable to sleep. What if Phil’s soulmark was still just a seed, was he stupid to think he could’ve been Phil’s soulmate? There were a million and one people out there that would be far better than he would ever be, so why him? If it even was him of course.

He fell asleep to fitful dreams, of his friendship with Phil- who was his best friend, despite all their previous communication having taken place solely online- being ruined forever, by Dan jumping to conclusions about soulmarks. He didn’t even know if Phil liked guys, he had made it quite clear in his own online presence that he was essentially bi or pan, though he neglected to give a formal label to his attractions, declaring that labels were not for human beings, and that he did not require one. 

What if this ruined everything for them? Dan valued Phil’s friendship more highly than he had ever regarded a relationship before, and though he wouldn’t deny being attracted to the other boy, maybe this wasn’t a clever idea?

He was awoken in the middle of the night to a buzz from his phone vibrating. He had fallen asleep with it cradled on his chest whilst he waited for a response. Blinking sleepily, he saw that Phil had responded, he had sent a photo of his own wrist, which was almost identical to Dan’s. The seed on his skin, though a different shape, had almost the same growth as Dan’s. He phoned the boy, not caring that it was late at night. Soulmates were more important than sleep. Everyone in the world knew that.

‘Dan!’ came Phil’s voice, slightly crackly through the phone line. ‘Your wrist, do you think that means…?’ he trailed off, not finishing the thought.

‘That we’re soulmates?’ he asked, ‘God I hope so Phil.’

‘Does that make us boyfriends?’ Phil asked, before hurriedly backing up, ‘I mean, only if you want a relationship, if you want to wait to make sure our soulmarks are definitely linked then I won’t mind waiting. Or of course if you don’t want to go out with me then we don’t ever have to.  Just, if you want to be boyfriends then I’m up for it.’

‘Yes, yes, yes!’ Dan said enthusiastically down the phone line, before realising the time and lowering his voice. ‘I mean yes, of course I want to be your boyfriend you idiot, I would be a fool to not want to date you.’

‘So, boyfriends?’ Phil asked, slightly shy.

‘Yes,’ Dan confirmed, ‘Boyfriends.’

 

‘It looks like you’ll have a flower there soon,’ Dan was tracing Phil’s soulmark as they sat in bed together one Sunday morning. They had moved in together not long ago, and given that they had been in a long-distance relationship for so long, their soulmarks hadn’t gotten a chance to grow properly, flowers that would normally appear after a few months, only just appearing now after they had been dating for two years. 

If you had told Dan three years ago that he would be living with his soulmate, who he met over tumblr, in a small flat in London, he would’ve just laughed himself silly at the mere suggestion. Him, Dan Howell, have a soulmate? Before Phil, he long accepted the idea that he probably wouldn’t have one and had come to terms with that fact, so now suddenly having someone like him in his life was unusual. 

It was strange for him, but a good type of strange. The type of strange similar to trying something new, you have no idea how it’ll turn out, you have no idea if the risks will be worth it, but you still try, because it’s better than doing nothing.

 

The flower bloomed a few days later, a rose, that had grown down onto Phil’s hand, the tendrils trailing over his fingers, and Dan’s first followed not long after, a sunflower.

What people said about the type of flower having meaning was true, Phil was like a sunflower he supposed, bright and cheery, and certainly tall. And the choice of a rose, no matter how cliché it seemed, did seem to suit him, it looked nice from far away, but once you came closer the thorns became visible. Maybe the universe did get something right when it came to soulmarks. 

Phil had made Dan happier than he had ever been before, plants on his arm or no plants- that didn’t matter in the slightest to how he had made Dan feel. But he could definitely think of worse people to share a soulmark with than the man walking next to him, fingers around his own.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and kudos much appreciated x  
> EDIT 6/7/18   
> I haven't written a sequel for this (yet) but if anyones interested in another fic in the same soulmate AU I've written one for the MCU called Inked Petals


End file.
